Girl escapes kidnapper's car trunk in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO - Sacramento County authorities are praising the quick-thinking of a 7-year-old girl who was kidnapped off the street and thrown into her abductor's car trunk, but managed to escape.

Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jason Ramos said the girl was walking with her mother and two siblings in south Sacramento on Saturday afternoon when a man pulled up next to the family, grabbed the girl and drove off.

Ramos says the man had traveled only a couple of blocks when the girl jumped out of the trunk while the car was moving. She suffered scrapes but was otherwise uninjured.

He says investigators don't want to reveal how the girl freed herself from the trunk because it might give kidnappers ideas for how to thwart escapes by future victims.